Industry Minister Nabindra Raj Joshi made an astute observation while addressing the second Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Forum on Financing for Development Follow-up at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, on Tuesday. 

His observation that a major hurdle for countries to successfully implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) was that traditional forms of development finance such as aid and grant money, was not enough.

This results in a financing gap, where the available resources are not enough to fund ongoing and future SDGs. 

Joshi said that development partners should fully comply with their official development assistance commitments, facilitate trade and export while also encouraging the flow of investments and technologies, in line with agreed agendas. 

He also added that climate financing should be easily accessible to vulnerable countries like Nepal. 

He emphasised the need to redouble efforts to put development commitments into action, adding that Nepal was committed to doing its part.

The forum was set up by the Addis Ababa Action Agenda to make a review of the financing for development outcomes and the means of implementing the 2030 agenda for sustainable development.

Any conclusions and recommendations made during the forum will be fed into the overall follow-up and review of the implementation of the 2030 agenda.